NEW: Trump brings in Tulsi Gabbard for debate prep against Kamala

Two people with knowledge of Trump's schedule told the New York Times that Trump brought Gabbard in for a recent practice session at Mar-a-Lago. The outlet noted that Gabbard was brought in "partly because of her own performance in a 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate, when Ms. Gabbard eviscerated Ms. Harris in a memorable onstage encounter."

A spokeswoman for Trump, Karoline Leavitt, said in a statement that Trump has "proven to be one of the best debaters in political history as evidenced by his knockout blow to Joe Biden. He does not need traditional debate prep but will continue to meet with respected policy advisers and effective communicators like Tulsi Gabbard, who successfully dominated Kamala Harris on the debate stage in 2020."

Advisors who worked with him told the outlet that Trump has spent more time in this election cycle than he did in 2016 and 2020 preparing for debates. Despite this, Trump does not do traditional debate prep, instead sitting with advisors informally and discussing potential lines of questioning and topics that may be brought up. More formal sessions at Mar-a-Lago have reportedly seen aides sitting in chairs opposite him to play the role of moderators.

The outlet stated that Gabbard brings some "key qualities" for Trump’s prep, being that she is a woman and this is not the first time Trump has gone against a female Democratic nominee, that she is a former House member who has policy experience, and that she has debated Harris on the stage before.

During the July 2019 debate, Gabbard noted that Kamala Harris as district attorney of San Francisco "put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana," and accused Harris of obstructing evidence that could allow an innocent man to leave death row, only revealing this evidence after a court "forced her to."